2 School Trustees Will Seek Reelection

Stoking the campaign fires early, Martha Fluor and Edward H. Decker both announced Wednesday that they will seek reelection to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of education.

Fluor and Decker said they were motivated to run again because they believe their experience will help the district meet the challenges it faces.

Newport-Mesa is expecting an enrollment boom in the next few years, which will pose some difficult decisions for the trustees as they decide how to accommodate the new children.

The district also continues to pull itself out of a financial crunch, having lost about $8 million in the collapse of the Orange County investment pool in late 1994. That followed the discovery in 1992 that the district’s chief financial officer had embezzled $3.7 million.

Three seats on the seven-member board are up for election in November. Board President Jim de Boom, whose seat will come open, has already said he does not plan to seek reelection.

So far, no other candidates have surfaced. Fluor and Decker said they announced their campaign plans early to alert potential candidates that the two incumbents intend to run.

Fluor said she has $2,500 left from her 1991 school board campaign to kick off her reelection bid. Decker has no money left over.

Supt. Mac Bernd, who was on hand when the two made their joint announcement, said, “I came here to support two board members who I think have worked very hard for the good of the children in the school district.”